Kentucky Bounces Back with Big Offensive Effort on Wednesday

After being shut out by Evansville on Sunday, and after dropping its home opener to Morehead State, the Kentucky baseball team felt like it had something to prove on Wednesday night against Western Kentucky. And the Cats wasted absolutely no time in proving it.

Kentucky had seven hits and four runs in the bottom of the first inning on its way to a 13-9 win over the Hilltoppers. UK head coach Nick Mingione thought that second baseman Ethan Hindle set the tone in the bottom of the first inning with a leadoff home run.

“I thought (Ethan) Hindle set the tone,” Mingione said. “First pitch, ready to go. It’s the home run and just up and down the lineup, such good at-bats.”

Freshman catcher Owen Jenkins, who had four hits in the win on Wednesday, liked that it was an entire team effort in the victory.

“It was awesome,” Jenkins said. “Just getting the job done, doing whatever it takes, it was a really fun night tonight.”

Mingione said that after getting blanked in Saturday’s loss at Evansville, the Cats needed to see just how good they can be by watching the video of that game.

“I give our guys a lot of credit,” Mingione said. “We had a great video review session on Monday. Spent a ton of time, watching the good and the bad. (We were) just trying to show them how good they are when they do just what they’re trained to do. They totally responded and I thought that was great.”

Jenkins said that the team’s determination on Wednesday showed in the final results.

“We’re just alley cats,” Jenkins said. “Everybody’s trying to do their job. Whatever the game demands, that’s what we’re trying to do.”

Kentucky had 20 hits in the game and tied a season high with 13 runs. Jenkins noted that these midweek games are very important and that the Cats needed to win this one after falling to Morehead State last week.

“This is huge,” Jenkins said. “It’s an in-state rivalry. Just being able to get a win during the midweek. These games matter. Just putting everything together and getting a good team win.”

Kentucky learned from its mistakes last weekend and made amends for dropping their first home midweek game last week. The Cats hope to carry the momentum from Wednesday’s win into this weekend’s series against St. John’s at Kentucky Proud Park.